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Police fears that the April 17 funeral for former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher will be targeted by protesters are triggering a security clampdown.

Officers are scouring social media, internet forums and mobile telephone messaging networks for plots to disrupt the ceremony.

Security planning for the funeral, which the Queen is due to attend and will cost £10m (€11.7m), began more than three years ago, and some intelligence experts warn police may make "pre-emptive arrests” ahead of trouble, as happened in the run up to the Royal Wedding in 2011, where scores of people were arrested.

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